H-1B visa cap reached for Fiscal Year 2019

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USICS) has announced that is has already reached the congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for fiscal year 2019.

The visa cap was reached within a week of the program opening for the next fiscal year,

USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa US advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap.

Any unselected cap-subject petitions will be reject and filing fees returned.

However, USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the visa cap. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, will also not be counted toward the Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B cap.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

– Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;

– Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;

– Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and

– Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

US businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in occupations that require specialized knowledge.